The National Lifeline Association (NaLA) has filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling seeking clarification of the FCC’s Lifeline rules and guidance provided on the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) website. Sections 54.405 and 54.407 of the FCC’s rules indicates that Lifeline support is provided to an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) based on the number of qualifying low-income customers it serves directly as of the first day of the month, and that where Lifeline subscribers do not use Lifeline service for 30 consecutive days and within a 15-day cure period would result in service termination. NaLA indicates that previous guidance from the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) provided that subscribers in the 15-day cure period may be included in an ETC’s reimbursement request for the prior month, and that USAC followed such guidance. NaLA then claims that USAC later published revised guidance on its website that contradicted the Bureau’s guidance and providing that ETCs could not request reimbursement for customers in the cure period. Claiming that USAC lacks authority to interpret the FCC’s rules and that the Bureau’s guidance is “the only reasonable interpretation” of the rules, NaLA asks the FCC to order USAC to revert to its previous approach to Lifeline reimbursement. Comments on NaLA’s petition are due by March 12, 2018 and reply comments by March 27, 2018.
